Forever and For Always
by Cattitude
Summary: Kaoru moves into a new home and finds the Battousai's diary. When she reads it, she finds herself intrigued by the man, especially when it ends abruptly. She finds a way to go back to his time, where they fall in love. But, eventually, she has to return.


Title: Forever and For Always

Author: Silent Tears of Agony

Chap: 1

Rating: PG-13

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, or Somewhere in Time (a good movie:).

-

Kaoru sat in her car for several minutes after she had turned the engine off. Finally, she stepped out and followed the cobblestone pathway to the brick house. After knocking on the solid door, the young woman quietly stood on the porch.

Actually, Kaoru thought she was weaving more than standing, she was so exhausted. Right now, all she wanted to do was sleep forever. Before Kaoru could test that theory, the door was opened to reveal a beautiful woman.

'Perfect,' the blue-eyed woman thought enviously. Her cousin Tomoe always looked perfect, from her perfectly glossy hair, to her perfectly glowing skin, to her perfectly fashionable clothes. Even her smile was perfect and smooth.

Kaoru was self-conscious about her own smile. When she was about eight, she had seen a picture of herself and realized her smile greatly resembled a jack-o-lantern, crooked and toothy. Since then the young woman rarely smiled, even when family was present.

"Oh Kaoru," Tomoe gathered up her younger cousin in a friendly hug. "How are you? How was your drive?"

"Very tiring," Kaoru answered.

The older woman pulled away from the hug to scrutinize her cousin's face. "You _do _look tired." She grabbed Kaoru's hand and led her inside. "I'll show you where you can lay down. Akira will bring in your luggage when he comes home." Kaoru quietly followed Tomoe to what looked like a nursery. "Rest well so you have the strength to visit later." Tomoe unknowingly discouraged the other woman further by flashing another perfect smile.

After her cousin left, Kaoru sank onto the child-sized bed, too weary to remove her shoes and jacket. She loved her cousin dearly, yet she couldn't help feeling depressed about being in her house today. When Kaoru had first heard the news of her fiancee's death, she made arrangements not to be alone on her planned wedding date, hoping the company would comfort her. Now she realized how foolish it was to believe something so simple could ease this suffocating pain.

Kaoru fiddled with her engagement ring. Before she had left, her mother had expressed her concern over Kaoru continuing to wear it. The distraught woman had given her best effort, but after staying up all night crying, she put her ring back on.

Truthfully, though, even Kaoru was beginning to scare herself by how dependent she was becoming on physical reminders of Aoshi. She had finally accepted Tomoe's invitation to move to Yountville after seriously considering living she in the house and Aoshi were going to move into after their wedding. The dream house they never had a chance to purchase together. Eventually the dark-haired woman's mind calmed enough to allow her to fall into a fitful sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Kaoru awoke, the sky was dusky outside. She hurried to rise from the bed and find the other occupants of the house. Her cousin's husband - Akira - was in the living room watching t.v. with a man Kaoru had never met.

"Ah, Sleeping Beauty finally woke up," her cousin-in-law teased her.

Kaoru scowled, embarrassed that a stranger would see her in such a disheveled state. After a moment of indecision, the sleepy woman decided it was too late to change and thought the chance that they should meet again was low so it didn't matter anyway. However, she did at least attempt to straighten her hair before sitting across from the two men.

"We had about given up on you," Akira informed her. "Kenshin was about to leave. You came just in time."

Kaoru's curious gaze moved over to the man sitting next to Akira. "Kenshin . . . ?" The name sounded familiar to her, yet Kaoru couldn't place where she had heard it.

"How rude of me!" Akira slapped his forehead. "I forgot to introduce the two of you. Kaoru, this is Kenshin Himura. He's the man who owns the house I told you about."

Before she could respond, Tomoe walked into the room and announced that supper was ready. She waited until Kaoru passed by then touched the young woman's arm to indicate she wanted to talk to her privately. "Kaoru, I know Akira is kind of pressuring you to rent his friend's house, but don't do that if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I invited you up here with the full intention that you would live with us and my husband knows this."

'He may know,' Kaoru thought sourly, 'but he obviously doesn't agree with you.' "Thank you, but I think I'll take a look at the house before I decide, okay?"

Tomoe flashed an uneasy smile. "Of course," she agreed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kaoru rose early the next morning, forgetting that she didn't have to work that day. She was also disoriented for a few minutes as she stood in the foreign room. Once she finally remembered she had spent the night at her cousin's house, and she had no job to prepare for, Kaoru sat quietly on the bed. She was surprised - as she watched the sunrise through the window - to find the fog reached this area. It made sense after she thought about it. After all, Yountville wasn't very far from the coast.

The young woman finally got up and peeked outside the room when she thought she heard a noise. When she heard the sound again more clearly - it was the sound of retching - Kaoru padded over to the bathroom.

"Hello?" Kaoru knocked on the door. "Are you okay?" Just as she was debating whether she should go in, the door opened to reveal her shaky cousin. "Tomoe!" Kaoru gasped at the older woman's pale countenance. "What happened? Are you sick?" Tomoe hadn't looked so bad since Kaoru had experimented in the kitchen a few months ago.

"It's nothing," the dark-eyed woman assured Kaoru. "Just a little morning sickness."

The expression in Kaoru's eyes changed from worried to disbelieving. "Again? This will be your third child in six years. Is that healthy?"

"I'm sure it isn't dangerous," Tomoe replied. "Anyway, it does no good to stress over something that can't be changed." The delicate woman hid a small yawn behind her hand.

"Would you care for a cup of tea before the boys wake up? This may be the last moment of peace you'll have for the day."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tomoe had not been exaggerating in her warning to Kaoru. The house was filled with activity once her husband and oldest son woke as people hurried to find missing books, papers and clothing. It wasn't much better after the two left because then, Tomoe's other son woke up.

"I took the day off from work," the older woman explained as she fed her son. "Is there anything special you would like to do?"

"No, I think I'll just stay here and rest."

Tomoe frowned as she scrutinized her cousin's dull features. Her aunt had informed her that Kaoru was sleeping too much the past few weeks. Tomoe suspected her cousin wasn't eating properly either. She looked painfully thin, and had only picked at both of her meals.

"Oh come on," Tomoe tried to encourage her. "There are lots of fun stores we could look at. We can window-shop just like old times!"

"_No_!" Kaoru finally snapped. "It won't be the same because it _shouldn't _be!"

"Oh Kaoru . . . " The woman's dark eyes were sympathetic.

Again, Kaoru cut off her cousin with a harsh negative. "I don't want to hear your sympathies! I am sick of hearing the word 'sorry'! Aoshi always apologized; 'To ease his conscience' he would say. Well, what good are anyone's apologies now?" Kaoru's wavering voice choked on a sob. "He left me just so he could have his stupid adventure!"

Tomoe attempted to rub her cousin comfortingly on the shoulder. She was never good with emotions. Thus, she had no idea how to comfort the distraught woman. "Well, alright," she conceded. "You slept so much last night though, surely you have the energy to be active. I could try to give you another cooking lesson and I could always use an extra hand cleaning. Or we could do something fun, you choose."

Kaoru vigorously wiped at her face with a sleeve. She didn't like any part of her to be wet unless she was swimming or bathing. "You're always so persistent," she griped.

"And you can be resilient," Tomoe acknowledged. "When you allow yourself to be."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kaoru held onto the door handle as the car bumped along the narrow, dusty driveway. Truthfully, Kaoru thought it was more of a trail, it stretched on for so long. Finally, Akira stopped in front of a tiny building and announced that they had reached their destination.

The young woman tried to keep a straight face as she examined the weathered house. It wasn't at all what she had imagined it would look like as she watched the other houses they passed on the way over. They were bright and large, with well-manicured lawns and flower gardens. This one was tiny and dingy surrounded by not so well-manicured dirt. What was left of the paint was peeling and some spots on the roof looked like they might collapse.

Her attention was drawn away from her depressing examination as the front door was opened. Kenshin walked out, and waved them over. Last night, Kaoru had been about to reach the assumption that he was mute, when he finally asked her to pass the salt. He was either extremely shy, she had reasoned, or extremely rude. That he simply didn't feel the need to express his opinion as often as she did, never occurred to Kaoru.

The house looked roomier inside, than it did outside. There was a small living room, a combined kitchen and dining area, and a reasonably sized bedroom. Kenshin showed her where the washing machine and dryer were kept in another small building. Kaoru was still torn whether she really wanted to pay 1,000 dollars a month for such an inconvenient place when she saw the view from her bedroom. The overgrown trees looked far more exciting than the rows of neatly kept vineyards she had encountered every time she visited.

"What is that back there?" she asked the quiet redhead as she pointed out the window.

"An abandoned apple orchard." Kaoru still had difficulty accepting how deep his voice was for such a small man and jumped a little when he answered her question. "A small creek runs behind it in the winter."

For the first time in months, the woman's blue eyes actually lit up when she heard that. "Would I own it if I stayed here?"

"I own it," he corrected her gently. "You would be allowed to explore it, should you decide to rent this house."

"What about improvements?" If he was a lazy landlord, she didn't care about the pretty view. There was no way she could stay in an ugly house.

Surprisingly, the young man's face brightened a little in embarrassment. "I wasn't fully prepared for your visit."

Kaoru thought it looked like he wasn't at all prepared, yet managed to hold her tongue.

"I will fix the roof before you move in," he continued. "The house should be ready for you to move into next weekend."

"What about the outside?"

Kenshin gazed at her with curious eyes. The young woman sighed when she realized that was the only cue she would receive that he didn't understand her.

"The outside," she snapped. "It needs to be painted!" She glared at him expectantly.

The man nodded in agreement. Kaoru sighed again - more loudly this time. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I suggest you find a sturdy paint brush," he answered evenly, "and a color you like."

Kaoru furrowed her brows. "Are you trying to tell me you won't do it?"

"Cosmetic improvements aren't my responsibility. No one can see the house this far from the road, so they don't care about its appearance. I'll fix anything you _need_, but anything else is up to you."

"That's not right!"

Kenshin lifted his shoulders in a shrug. Kaoru gazed back out the window longingly. "I bet it looks beautiful in the spring." She gave Kenshin a sidelong glance. "If 'cosmetic improvements' are up to me, does that mean I can do whatever I wish?"

"If I approve of it."

"Well, I guess . . . that works."

-

I think Tomoe might be a little OOC. I apologize for this. I'll try to make everyone as in character as I possibly can! (:

I'm not sure when I'll update again. Probably about a year.

_**Note: All recommended fanfiction can be found at fanfiction . net unless otherwise noted.**_

**_RECOMMENDED FANFIC: _**A Citizen's Duty by _KC Evans _A modern BK story. Kaoru has witnessed Battousai kill and now finds herself in quite a predicament after reporting him to the police. The banter between Saito and Kaoru at the beginning of each chapter is quite amusing. This is one of those stories you look forward to finding in your inbox. (:


End file.
